


(Conquer Me) On the Battlefield

by Defira



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 01:44:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3363164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Defira/pseuds/Defira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam Traynor has a problem when it comes to indulging in hopeless fantasies about beautiful women, but she also has a problem saying no to certain gaming challenges. When the challenge issued comes from a particular female identifying AI who has been featuring in her fantasies, she doesn't have a chance in hell.</p>
<p>Written for Femslash February</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Conquer Me) On the Battlefield

There were two things that Samantha Traynor had trouble resisting: an attractive voice, and a gaming challenge. The former wasn’t particularly a huge problem for her, since work and the whole impending ‘ _end of all life everywhere_ ’ had a habit of taking priority in her day to day, but the latter was something that could still land her in hot water from time to time. 

Case in point- getting so distracted a few days earlier during shore leave that she’d _completely_ forgotten to meet with Shepard for lunch. But really, how was she supposed to resist the chance to play in a proper kepesh-yakshi tournament? Talk about dangling the golden carrot.

Thankfully, Elise had taken her absence in her stride, laughing good naturedly at her sheepish apology and staying to cheer her on. Which hadn’t helped her teensy little crush on the Commander, but she wasn’t really complaining- sometimes it was fun to hold onto hopeless fantasies. Besides, victory was that much sweeter with Commander Shepard herself there to smack talk T’suzsa on her behalf, and maybe she’d been a bit giddy on said victory when she’d jokingly- _flirtatiously_ , she really needed to be honest there- suggested they continue the party back at Elise’s newly procured apartment. 

If there was one thing she appreciated more than anything else about Elise, it was her way to make a person feel important- it was a gift really. She’d watched the way she related to the crew, to the various military officials and diplomatic representatives, the way she talked to the refugees on the Citadel and the exhausted soldiers she met on the front lines; when Elise Shepard spoke to you, she spoke to you like you were the only person in the world, and when she’d laughed kindly and kissed her on the cheek and gently let her down by telling her she had plans to meet Zaeed for the evening, Sam couldn’t be upset. 

Sometimes hopeless fantasies were just that, and she was okay with that. 

However, given that she had plans for the evening, Elise had very generously lent her the keys to her apartment for the night, winking conspiratorially when she’d informed her about the hot tub in the upstairs bedroom. _Hot tub_. The wretched woman knew the way to her heart even if she wasn’t interested that way. 

And well, it was shore leave after all, a time for being pointlessly luxuriant and utterly useless. Spending an hour or two lazing about in a hot tub and indulging in all the fancy scented bath oils Elise had lined up on the far wall was certainly the best prize for winning the tournament as far as she was concerned. 

She was towelling dry her hair when she heard the front door chime, and she frowned absently at her reflection in the foggy mirror. She wasn’t expecting anyone- in fact, Elise had made a point of the fact that she was to take the time for herself, and not worry about mothering the rest of them, specifically so that she _wouldn’t_ be bothered by anyone. Sam considered herself a people person through and through, but sometimes a little alone time was necessary for recharging her spark and vivacity. 

Also, you know, shared military quarters made it nigh on impossible to find any privacy for _special_ alone time. 

Ducking her head to wrap the towel around her hair, she hurried into the adjoining bedroom and snagged an oversized fluffy robe from the bed before she clicked on the access screen.

Outside the apartment, peering into the screen of the visitor panel, was a very familiar figure. A _painfully_ familiar figure, one that had featured in some of her moments of hopeless fantasy. “Good evening, Specialist Traynor,” EDI said, smiling broadly and waving her fingers at her through the video.

Sam’s cheeks heated instantly, and she felt the towel on her head wilt lopsidedly to the side. “EDI,” she said after a moment of gaping stupidly, fumbling to tie the robe more securely around her waist. “I wasn’t expecting- uh, _company_.” Perhaps she’d dreamed it, fantasized about it in moments of whimsy, but she hadn’t really ever expected the silky-voiced AI to come visiting. 

Oh dear, _wait_ , she hadn’t accidentally _offered_ in her drunken foolishness at Shepard’s party the other night, had she?

“I apologise for the interruption, Samantha,” EDI said pleasantly. “I had hoped to surprise you- if this is an inconvenient time, I can come back-”

“Oh no, no that’s fine!” Sam stammered, her cheeks burning. She patted ineffectually at the towel, trying to nudge it back upright without making it obvious that she was losing a fight with a length of terrycloth. “I, um, no it’s fine, I don’t mind at all.”

“Excellent.”

Sam stared at her through the screen, utterly at a loss for words. There was a desperately intriguing AI in a desperately attractive body standing outside her borrowed apartment, wanting to see _her_ , and she was standing about in a bathrobe and a towel.

“Would you perhaps like a few minutes to compose yourself, Samantha?” EDI prompted gently after a moment or two of awkward silence. 

She rubbed a hand over her heated face. “No, no, that’s fine,” she repeated yet again, “just- wait there and I’ll be right down.”

She disconnected before she could further embarrass herself, and the moment the display winked out she covered her face with both hands, a quiet shrieking noise escaping from between her fingers. 

“Oh, gods oh gods,” she said, hopping from foot to foot and half dancing in her disbelief. She straightened, hands going down to her sides, and then immediately back up to her head when the towel unravelled and slid down onto her shoulder. “No, calm down now, I can do this. I can be civil and adult and cultivate a friendship with another wom- er, female presenting individual without making a fool of myself.”

Her hands went to her robe, about to cast it off in exchange for more appropriate clothing, but she hesitated. EDI had no human notions of modesty, and would surely have no objection to a woman in a haphazard state of dress. 

Would she?

Oh, _gods_ , and she’d left EDI standing outside while she worked herself into a tither. Grabbing the tie on the robe and tugging it firmly closed, fixing the towel back into a twist on her head, she dashed from the bedroom and out to the foyer. She straightened the towel on her head, then the robe, then the towel again, then she scolded herself under her breath for fidgeting and opened the door.

EDI was waiting patiently on the doorstep, despite the fact that she could have quite easily admitted herself to the apartment by bypassing the security systems wirelessly; all things considered, it was a rather polite and thoughtful courtesy on EDI’s part, one she hadn’t necessarily assumed an AI would engage in. Did AI participate in acts of civility simply because they were programmed to respond as such, or was it more than an act of predetermined mimicry where EDI herself had reached such a level of independent thought that she was able to decide to engage in such courtesies as a part of her own rationale? 

Sam’s head hurt. 

EDI, unaware of the painfully circuitous philosophical debate Sam was having with herself, greeted her with a nod. “Good evening, Samantha,” she said again. “I hope it is acceptable that I use your given name, rather than your title. I felt perhaps that such a form of address would be too formal between the two of us.” 

“That’s not a worry, EDI,” Sam said, laughing nervously and trying to tuck a strand of damp hair back up into the towel. She needed to be doing something with her hands, because the damn things seemed possessed with a nervous energy that was only going to end in disaster, surely. “I only wish I could return the favour, or... yes.”

Well, that was splendidly awkward of her, wasn’t it?

“I appreciate your intent, Samantha, although technically we can assume EDI to be my given name, since it is the form of address that suits human colloquial speech the best.” When Sam only stared at her blankly, EDI prompted “It is a nickname.”

Sam blushed again, her tongue several sizes too big for her mouth. “Of course it is!” she said brightly, to cover up her embarrassment. “And it’s an excellent nickname at that.”

“I’m very glad you think so.” They stared at each other for a moment longer. “May I come in?”

If she could have sunk into the floor and vanished, she would have leapt at such an opportunity. “I- of course! Please, come in.” Sam stood to the side and fought off the fierce desire to just hide her face in her hands and groan; as EDI passed her, for the first time in her flustered state she noticed the flat, slender box EDI held carefully under one arm. Her mortification morphed quickly to curiosity. “Is there a purpose to this visit, or am I just lucky enough to warrant a social call?” she asked, closing the door behind them. 

EDI had strolled into the apartment proper, standing beside one of the couches by the fire. “The Commander informed me of your location, and I thought it the ideal opportunity to test an idea I’d had.” She patted the box under her arm fondly. “Although I suppose, all things considered, one could consider it a social call- I’ve procured a very particular kepesh-yakshi board, and thought it might interest you.”

Sam brightened, her embarrassment forgotten. “I didn’t know you had an interest in board games,” she said, “surely with an intellect like your own, a human opponent wouldn’t really represent a challenge?”

“I find the concept of such mental stimulations to be fascinating,” EDI said. “Certainly, I’ve reviewed some of your previous matches, and your grasp of long term preemptive tactics is nothing short of remarkable.”

The swell of smug pride she felt was cut short by the sharp taste of suspicion. “You’ve been reading up on my gaming matches?” she asked warily. “Why?”

EDI’s smile was somewhat devious, if an AI were capable of looking like she were up to mischief. “I had a basic understanding of the game, as well as access to numerous strategies for gameplay and the records of famous players through asari history, but I find that- how did Sun Tzu put it? So if you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without jeopardy.”

The ball finally dropped. “You want to try and beat me in a game of kepesh-yakshi?” Sam asked incredulously. 

“Indeed. If that is at all inappropriate, or you would rather not-”

“No, no, it’s not inappropriate at all,” Sam said quickly, crossing her arms and then uncrossing them immediately. “It’s just not... expected? I mean, surely with your intellect and processing power, a human opponent wouldn’t provide a challenge for you?”

“Not necessarily- as it is with the Normandy, I do not take the role of pilot away from Mr Moreau because human intuition and reflexes still have an advantage over the logic based algorithms that make up my thought processes. I cannot predict the spontaneity and risks that a human player is inclined to take.” She smiled again. “Although I can do my best to determine patterns in gameplay over time.”

“Hence why you watched my old matches,” Sam finished, smiling wryly. She knew she ought to feel nervous, but if anything she only felt giddy. To think, that EDI had taken enough of an interest in her hobby that she would go to so much trouble... “Well, you’ve gone to so much effort, I’d hate to turn you down.”

“I was hoping you would say that,” EDI said, setting the flat box down on the coffee table between them. “Shall we begin?”

Still hadn’t quite grasped the nuances of social interactions, then; Sam smiled to herself, a little more relaxed to know that EDI’s reason for visiting was innocent, and that she hadn’t proposed any accidental lechery while drunk at the party. That was one weight off her mind. “Oh, if you wanted to set up the board, I’ll just get dressed and-”

“There’s no need for that, Samantha,” EDI said pleasantly, carefully unfolding the travel sized board and activating the power. The coloured display flickered to life, and there was something not quite right about the interface; she frowned slightly, but she couldn’t put her finger on what was off. “In fact, it would probably be more practical to remain in your current attire.”

Oh, that totally wasn’t suspicious _at all_. She crossed her arms and then uncrossed them again, fidgeting endlessly. “A bathrobe and a wet towel,” she said flatly, not a question so much as a statement. 

“Indeed. Although perhaps you should discard the towel. Your hair will not dry if you leave it enclosed like that.”

Sam raised her eyebrows. “Well, now I’m just downright suspicious,” she said, but she reached up and unwound the towel anyway, her hair falling in damp waves across her face. She huffed out a breath in annoyance and flicked it to the side, tossing the wet towel onto the tiled floor to retrieve later.

“I have procured this particular model in the interest of making our private gaming sessions more challenging,” EDI said, easing into the seat on the opposite side of the table with a grace that made Sam alternatively jealous and giddy at the knees. “Or at the very least, more diverting.”

Sam flopped down into her seat, lounging back against the cushions. “Consider me intrigued,” she said. “And still suspicious.”

EDI laughed delightedly. “Perhaps your suspicions will distract you and work in my favour,” she said, fingers flying delicately over the key display and opening a new map board. Again, Sam was struck by the faint impression that something about the game was slightly off. “Or perhaps the game will do that for me.”

“I can assure you, EDI, the neural jolt isn’t as terrible as everyone makes it out to be. I don’t know what it’s like for you, whether your experience would be described as pain or not but it’s...” She trailed off when she realised EDI was smiling deviously at her, fingers laced together in her lap as she watched her. “What?”

“Your assumption that this is a regular kepesh-yakshi board is adorably misinformed, Samantha,” EDI said, sounding so ridiculously smug that Sam was momentarily distracted from realising how blindly she’d walked into EDI’s snare. “I did inform you when I arrived that this was not a standard model, and again just a moment ago. If you are so unobservant in conversation, perhaps your skills in the game are also exaggerated.”

Sam gaped at her. “Are you smack talking me?” she asked incredulously.

“I believe I am.”

“And this board that you are so confident will distract me, what’s that all about then?”

EDI simply smiled. “This is, according to the description from where I purchased it, a ‘ _sensual adults-only update to the galaxy’s most popular battle of wits_ ’.”

Sam’s smile froze on her face as she finally felt the pieces fall into place. “Is this...” She stared at the board, and then back up at where EDI sat waiting patiently for her. “EDI, did you buy some kind of _sex_ board game?”

“A version of kepesh-yakshi that provides sexual stimulation instead of neural jolts as penalties? Why yes, I did.”

At her calm assertion that she had knowingly purchased what was essentially some kind of sex toy with the intention of using it with her, Sam slumped back against the cushions, her head spinning while it felt like all the blood in her body rushed to her groin in a flood of heat and arousal. “You...” She put a hand up to her forehead. “ _Why?_ ”

“Why not?”

“Can you even... _experience_ it? Sexual arousal, I mean?”

“To the best of my knowledge, no, I cannot. It was certainly something never anticipated as necessary programming when I was initially designed, and since Mr Moreau freed me from my Cerberus parameters, it was not something that I felt required me devoting runtime to in order to replicate. I do not possess a physiological framework that would respond to physical stimulus in any manner similar to organic arousal.”

She said it so clinically, so candidly, and Sam swallowed nervously as she crossed her legs. “That’s, um... it’s good that you’ve considered it. Not that it’s necessary, you’re absolutely right, but it’s good to... question. Things. Since you’re free and what not.”

“I’m so glad you approve.”

“I...” Beneath the bathrobe, she could feel a trickle of sweat running between her breasts. “Why do...”

“You seem to be a little tongue tied, Samantha,” EDI said, her tone exaggeratedly innocent. “Is something amiss?”

“Why do you want to play this version with me?” Sam asked, her voice hoarse. 

EDI’s smug expression vanished immediately. “I had assumed from your comments regarding my chosen voice simulator that you experienced some level of attraction towards me,” she said bluntly. “I am fascinated as to why you would indulge in such an attraction, given that I cannot reciprocate it.”

Sam squirmed in her seat, the heat rushing back to her cheeks. “Attraction is very rarely a rational thing,” she said weakly. 

“Indeed, I am learning that,” EDI said. “Which leads us to our current situation- given your attraction to me, I assumed you would be intrigued by the prospect of engaging in a challenge of wits with an orgasm as a means of distraction.”

Sam breathed out shakily, her fingers digging into the arms of the chair. “You just said orgasm out loud,” she said, her voice barely above a squeak. “You just... I must be dead, I must have drowned in the hot tub and this is just some wonderful afterlife.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Then-” Her skin felt far too tight, far too hot, and even the fluffy robe was too much stimulation for her. “Then I feel I must accept. For my honour, if nothing else.”

EDI smiled slowly, and Sam shivered. “Shall we begin?”

When she touched the board for the first time, she felt the faint whisper under her skin as the system locked onto her; normally it felt no worse than a zap of static electricity, like she might get from clothing fresh from the dryer, or from the metal door frames around the Normandy. This time, however, she gasped at the sensation, for it wasn’t a sharp warning but a heated rush, her back arching away from the couch in surprise.

At EDI’s knowing smile, she gritted her teeth and raised her chin defiantly, recrossing her legs. “Far less distracting than a jolt,” she said boldly.

She was always a terrible liar. 

The first time she lost a ship, she wasn’t expecting it. EDI outmaneuvered her so carefully and so skillfully that Sam didn’t have a chance to guard against it; she spotted the trap the moment before it was sprung, and she groaned.

EDI smiled coyly, and gestured to the board. “I believe it is your move, Samantha,” she said innocently.

Sam swallowed nervously, pressing her legs together at the rush of wet heat such a simple phrase roused in her. “You haven’t won,” she said as she leaned forward to make her move, her voice significantly huskier than she would have liked it to be.

“Of course I haven’t. I’m simply indicating you should probably take your next move.”

“I will, I’m going to.”

“Very well then.”

Sam licked her lips, her skin tingling with anticipation as she let her hand hover over the board for a moment, her fleet at the ready. With a flick of her finger, she let one of her outlying ships fall into the trap that EDI had so cleverly woven around it, sacrificing the vessel to keep the rest of the fleet safe.

The digital display flashed with the death of the ship, and she felt it- the surge of power, the buzz meant to penalise the player for making foolish sacrifices. Normally it was a harsh sensation, sharp and cruel, a nasty little jolt that had caused more than a few curses to pass her lips. 

But... _oh_.

Maybe it was because she was already madly turned on to start with, maybe it was the way EDI had matched all of her defiant flirtations with sly challenges, or maybe it was just that the board was really, _really_ good at what it did. Whatever the case, the pulse surged through her and she moaned, her head falling back as her fingers dug into the cushions. She’d expected it to just trigger a wave of pleasant general arousal, nothing specific, but it was as if she’d pressed a vibrating asari sex toy directly against her clit and turned it to the highest setting. 

Which, to be honest, was fairly close to what had just happened. 

When the sensation passed and her brain slowly drifted back to her, she realised she was panting, her skin beneath the robe slick with sweat; opposite her, EDI sat primly with the most deliciously predatory grin on her face. “And was that far less distracting than a jolt, Samantha?” she asked politely.

Swallowing and trying to get her breath back, Sam sat upright again, trying to ignore the lingering shivers. “You’re going to regret that,” she said, meaning it as a threat but instead making it sound like the sort of taunt whispered in the bedroom. 

The game continued at a far more intense pace than it had previously, with Sam considering each move fiercely, trying to anticipate the movements of the fleets from their current positions. EDI was not so easy to predict as one might expect, carefully gauging the board before each turn and rarely leaping into action without first pausing to silently peruse their positions. Sam didn’t know whether she truly did need the time to calculate her actions, or whether it was all for show, just another way of taunting her and teasing her in anticipation of her victory. 

She had no intention of making that victory easy for her.

“You seem very confident of yourself, EDI,” she said casually, sending a portion of her fleet up underneath EDI’s where she’d outmaneuvered her. She sat back with a rush of satisfaction as she watched her ships take out two of EDI’s, and a moment later EDI’s digital display flickered with interference. “You shouldn’t get too confident, however.”

“Fascinating,” EDI said, and her voice simulator fluctuated for a moment. “I commend you for your ability to retain your concentration with this level of interference.”

“You have no idea,” Sam said under her breath.

“I would have thought you’d be far more eager to indulge yourself in a loss, Samantha,” EDI said, straightening in the chair. “There’s no one else here, after all, and no one to judge you for losing. You could just enjoy yourself and-”

“Are you actually trying to tempt me into losing deliberately with the promise of sexual satisfaction?” Sam asked incredulously.

EDI’s expression turned sly. “Tactically, it is a sound strategy on my part.”

“Oh, it is _on_.”

EDI misstepped again, and Sam ruthlessly cut down another one of her ships, only for EDI to turn the tables on her one move later and swoop in to cut off her left flank. The display flickered and Sam braced herself as not one but three of her ships winked out of existence.

The pulse rippled through her and she gasped, the sound trailing off onto a keening high pitched wail as it didn’t abate, the pleasure making her squirm as to all intents and purposes it felt as if she had a vibrator massaging tauntingly between her legs. With the loss of three ships it seemed determined to make her pay for her mistake, and she writhed as the pleasure refused to abate, pushing her up as it buzzed against her clit, until she was panting and trembling, her heart racing and her skin slicked with sweat and her body feverish with the fierce need to just go tumbling over the edge and come screaming. 

She didn’t want to give EDI the satisfaction though, she thought faintly as she stared up at the roof, waiting for her breathing to settle to a more manageable pace. 

When she finally sat up straight again, pushing her hair away from her face, EDI was watching her enthusiastically. “Your reaction to pleasurable stimulus is quite fascinating, Samantha,” she said. “Your facial expressions when exposed to sexual stimulation are remarkable.”

Sam blushed, her breath hitching for a moment when the simple act of sitting forward shifted the pressure and made her whimper. “Am I to take that as a compliment?” she rasped, wiping the sweat away from her forehead with the back of her hand. Damn EDI and her inability to sweat; she couldn’t even tell if she’d unsettled her at any point in their match, least of all made her nervous.

“Perhaps. Perhaps it is simply an observation.”

“Perhaps you should spend more time observing the game rather than me,” Sam said, reaching forward and shifting her cruiser into the gap between EDI’s forward frigate and her dreadnought, surging forward to take the planet before the fleet could intercept her. 

The display flashed with her victory, and she opened her mouth to shout her triumph- only for a wave of sizzling pleasure to overtake her, so strong as to be almost violent as her back arched and her body locked up as the damnable game board pushed her that last little inch and sent her careening into an orgasm. She wanted to scream, her toes curling against the carpet, but all that seemed to escape her were choking noises, half formed cries that she couldn’t draw enough air for. 

Her eyes were tight shut, colours winking behind her eyelids as she dug her heels against the floor and tried to breathe and tried to scream and barely succeeded badly at both. Her clit throbbed and ached and she could feel the dampness beneath her robe and between her thighs, and somehow she couldn’t bring herself to care.

It took some time for her to settle back into herself, panting shallowly with her eyes half lidded, slumped in exhaustion in the chair in almost amnesiac bliss. She felt quite like she was floating, and it slowly came back to her that she was not alone, that she in fact had company, and according to said company she should not just have come like she hadn’t had an orgasm in six months or more.

She lifted her head with difficulty and glared across the room accusingly to where EDI sat patiently; she lifted a shaking hand and pointed right at her. “You wretched cheat,” she said hoarsely.

“I assure you, Samantha, you are quite the victor. Congratulations.”

Blinking in confusion, Sam kept her hand up, still pointing but with less assuredness than a moment ago. “I... what? But you said-” 

“I said that it was an _updated_ version of kepesh-yakshi, yes. Apparently the designers of this version felt that sexual pleasure was the only just reward of the victor, not the loser.”

Realizing far too late just how thoroughly she’d been outplayed, Sam let her arm fall into her lap, laughing wearily. “And you didn’t feel this was necessary information to share with me at all?”

EDI shrugged, the picture of innocence. “It did not seem pertinent,” she said. “If you feel that your victory was not complete, I would be delighted to take part in another session with you.”

“Looking to even the score, EDI?”

“If you are suggesting that I am in possession of a competitive spirit and am in dire need to see you bested one way or another...” EDI’s smile widened, and Sam shivered. “Well, I’m sure I can distract you adequately.”


End file.
